From The Flames Of Hell
by LoopyPooky
Summary: After a time of peace, the three kingdoms began to war again, except this time not between themselves, but with a demonic foe. The Devil Is Coming
1. Default Chapter

A raggedy-looking soldier of Shu walked across the wooden walls of a small outpost station north of Hanzhong. His war-hardened face was tired from a continuous pace from noon till now, when the sun was beginning its slow descent. He opened his canteen and took a quick drink from it, before closing it again and saving it for later. While doing so, he wiped sweat off his face and checked his spear for any splinters for the tenth time during his sentry duty. As he began to begin pacing, he noticed a red glare coming from the horizon. Squinting, he saw nothing, and assuming the light was playing tricks, he resumed pacing again.  
  
Ten minutes later, he was still parading smartly around the top of the wall when suddenly he heard a scream come from below, from one of the soldiers building defenses outside of the outpost. Hastily, he rushed to the edge of the wall and looked down. What he saw made his jaw drop and his eyes reflect terror. Before he could do anything, a flaming arrow whistled and struck him squarely on the forehead, and he dropped to the ground dead.  
  
"ATTACK! ATTACK!!" yelled out a soldier from behind the small gate guarding the camp, which was being battered by a ram outside. Suddenly, the gate banged open, and the soldiers readying themselves at the camp cowered and ran for their lives as a demonic army swept them from their camp. A slaughter continued afterwards, and about 2/3's of the camp were killed. The rest of the soldiers fled back to Hanzhong, which was a good 2 days trip on foot.  
  
*************** "Hah! I have won again, Ma Liang!" cried Zhuge Liang as he made his final, checkmate move. "Your Excellency's intelligence knows no bounds," praised Ma Liang, bowing and saluting him. "That's probably not the reason Ma. It's probably because you still haven't learned my tactics yet," smiled Kongming (Kongming is Zhuge Liang's style, for those who don't know). "Would you like another game sir?" asked Ma Liang. "No, I'm fine. I would like to a stroll outside and take a look at the reign of peace that has finally fallen over China." With those words, Zhuge Kongming stood up and took his leave.  
  
Previously that year, Guan Yu had defeated Wei's and Wu's forces at Fancheng, and so he had lived. Liu Bei proposed an alliance with Wu, and together they stormed off to invade Wei. Cao Cao's armies were defeated numerous times until he finally pushed Wu and Shu off with an incredible expedition where his forces broke through and raided Hanzhong, forcing Shu to back off and Wu's forces to be defeated from Wei's remaining forces. The three kingdoms agreed to a truce of peace and they promised to uphold it as long as they can. The emperor was finally relieved and the land was prosperous again. Who knows how long the truce would last?  
  
As Zhuge Kongming was walking outside near his garden, he suddenly heard cries coming from afar. Peering towards the horizon, he saw twenty lone figures running as fast as they could to Hanzhong, shouting the words, "Prime Minister! Prime Minister!" Zhuge Liang quickly received them as they spoke in quick, breathless words, "Attack. Attack on the outpost. Most killed. Evil army." They were all raggedy, thin, and dirty. Their faces were torn with fear and exhaustion. "Calm down now soldiers. Now, I want you to tell me this all over again, in full sentences," soothed Kongming. One soldier, who finally caught his breath, spoke up, "We were doing our normal daily routine when suddenly a massive force overran our outpost. It was a horrible army sir; they had faces of monsters, and bodies of beasts. We couldn't fight back. They came too swiftly."  
  
As Kongming, puzzled, pondered over this, a man suddenly popped out of nowhere, as if by magic. Kongming was even more startled, and asked the man for who he was and what he was doing here. "My name is Hatch. I come from a faraway land, which has been attacked by this army your soldiers speak of. I've come to warn you and tell you about these monsters."  
  
Hatch was a short, stocky man of a sturdy build. His narrow, dark eyes were enough to stare down a bear. His face was war-hardened, and seemed as though he never smiled before. His hair was unusually brown instead of black. Confused by his appearance and the words he spoke, Kongming quickly recovered his normal stance and inquired curiously, "Just what are these things you speak about that ravage our land and destroy our forces?" "What I speak about is an army from Hell. Those monsters your men probably saw were fire orcs, the most common type of soldiers in the Hell army. There are even worst ones that your men either never saw, or saw one but were killed in the attack. They are the demons, commanders of the army from Hell. The lieutenants to the leader of the army are called Hellfire."  
  
*********** "I have called all you lords here to say something important, and to propose an alliance," spoke Liu Bei. After Hatch's conversation with Kongming, Hatch had followed Zhuge to Liu Bei, and reported exactly what he told to the Sleeping Dragon ("Sleeping Dragon" is Zhuge Liang's nickname). Xuande (Xuande is Liu Bei's style), alarmed, quickly called up his attendants to devise a plan for holding them off. Ma Liang suggested an alliance against the Hell army with help from Cao Cao and Sun Quan. Thinking this an excellent idea, Liu Bei had called up Cao Cao and Sun Quan and their top advisors to invite them to a banquet. Kongming prepared a speech for Bei to speak at the meeting.  
  
"After many years of peace, the time has finally come to draw our weapons and armor," continued Liu Bei. "However, we will not rip each other's bodies out with these weapons. Instead, the blades of swords, the points of spears, shall pierce a demonic foe and send them back to where they belong!" Cao Cao and Sun Quan looked at each other, confused, and replied, "What are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?" Liu Bei slowly said, "No, though I wish it was. Let me tell you." Bei told them about the army from Hell that had come to invade China and destroy all.  
  
Sun Quan paled at the sound of this, for he was a superstitious man and took this very seriously. However, Cao Cao just laughed, for he was not as superstitious as Sun Quan. Still laughing, he said, "So, this council was all for jest? All jest, gossip, and fun and games? Haha! I should've brought some kind of court jester then!" After these words, he glared at Liu Bei. "I travel all this way with my advisors, making many plans back at Xuchang before I left, and all that for a council of jest?! I cannot believe it! You liar!" Liu Bei looked at him, not breaking eye contact. Cao Cao suddenly realized that Liu Bei was telling the truth from the look of his eyes. Sun Quan, who was beginning to feel that everything was fake at Cao Cao's words, suddenly became pale again. Cao Cao sat down, stunned, with a long while of silence. Finally Zhuge Liang spoke up, "Our main purpose for this council is to form an alliance against this hellish foe. I, speaking for my lord Liu Bei, would like to propose that alliance to settle this matter once and for all." The other lords spoke with their advisors, and finally they said, "Agreed." "So let us officially form this alliance and write our pact in blood!" cried Liu Bei. A roll of parchment was rolled out, and Bei began writing the speech after cutting his finger with a knife. Then, Cao Cao and Sun Quan cut their fingers a little and signed their names on it.  
  
Quickly after the signing, Kongming proposed a council of war, where the lords discussed a strategy. It was finally decided that Liu Bei would bring his forces as the vanguard and meet the Hell army at Hanzhong. Meanwhile, Cao Cao will outflank the Hell army and Sun Quan would reinforce Liu Bei at Hanzhong. "However, we still need a leader for our cause," said Sima Yi. As if by call of a leader was sent out, Hatch appeared magically at the doorway of the banquet hall. "I would like to accept that leadership," he said softly. Cao and Quan looked surprised, and asked who he was. Kongming explained to them that Hatch was the one who gave us the information about the Hell army and had experience against them before. Cao and Quan, expected to make a bad remark about Hatch's strange appearance and about being led by a stranger, instead were grateful for an experienced leader who would lead them against the Hell army.  
  
"Would you happen to know the size of this Hell army?" asked Mengde (Mengde is Cao Cao's style). Hatch promptly replied, "2 million fire orcs, 1000 demons, and 5 Hellfire." The whole assembly were so shocked that not one of their eyelids blinked. Recovering, Quan said, "Do we have a chance against that army?" Hatch slowly answered, "You have a very slim chance. But if we use good strategy and outsmart them, we could win." Breathing sighs of relief, the whole assembly turned to the three main advisors: Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, and Lu Xun as though they carried the whole burden of defeating the Hell army, and they did.  
  
The council continued, and it finally ended with one last question, "What level of strategy does the enemy have?" inquired Mengde. "Well, we're going to need a lot of brains and work to figure out how to defeat the enemy. The devil's pretty smart you know," said Hatch. Again, the whole council was stunned at Hatch's last phrase. "Did I say something wrong?" puzzled Hatch. This time, it was Kongming who recovered. "Are you telling me that the Hell army is led by the devil himself?" With sudden realization why everyone was so shocked, Hatch, hesitant, spoke the word the struck fear in every heart there and that was dreaded the most by all lords, "Yes." 


	2. Chapter 2: War Preparations For the Firs...

"Pikes down! Pikes at the ready, and CHARGE!" roared the drill sergeant. A contingent of about five hundred pike men charged their dummies, pierced the straw bodies, and punched holes in them the size of an orange. Then, they quickly marched back to their starting positions, all as one as they prepared to charged the dummies again.  
  
Zhuge Liang watched his troops as they drilled and drilled constantly. It had been five days after the council, and it was already the fourth day of drilling. They had decided that they would drill for a week before going out to meet the enemy. This meant waking up early, drilling for five hours straight, a quick meal, drilling for another seven hours straight, a meal, and then a little more drilling. The troops were surprised and shocked at what they had to do, and there were thoughts of rebellion. But then came the thoughts of a hellish army razing their homes, and they persevered in their drills. Zhuge Liang was to devise a plot to hold the Hell Army off for a while until Cao Cao and Sun Quan could reinforce the Shu soldiers at Hanzhong.  
  
Hatch had decided to stay with Shu to see off his vanguard and get a viewpoint of the battle. He held a smaller council with Shu's officers and officials, and they decided upon the battle formation and numbers. Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong were the vanguard leaders, and they would strike first with ten thousand armored cavalry. Guan Yu would lead the left flank with five thousand bowmen, five thousand cavalry, and ten thousand foot soldiers. Zhang Fei was to lead the right flank with two thousand crossbowmen, fifteen thousand calvary, and three thousand footmen. Liu Bei would lead the center himself with Zhuge Liang, with twenty five thousand footmen and ten thousand crossbowmen. Ma Liang would bring up the rear with five thousand calvary and a thousand mounted archers guarding supplies. The army numbered ninety one thousand men in total, with another fifty thousand back guarding Chengdu led by Ma Dai and Ma Su, with special instructions from Zhuge Liang.  
  
And so the drilling continued on without cease, and would continue for a couple more days until the army of Hanzhong would march out against the demonic army. Zhuge Liang sighed as he racked up his brains for an assault on the opposing forces.  
  
Ma Liang walked up to him, and asked, "What is the matter Master Sleeping Dragon?" Zhuge sighed again and replied, "It is just that the burden of this matter is so big on me. If have to lead many to battle against an evil foe, and if we lose, our homes and families can all be destroyed and massacred. That is what I'm worried about." Ma Liang looked sorry for him, and instead of leaving, he said, "Have you come up with a strategy yet?" Kongming looked at him, and responded, "I've come up with one, and I'm sure that it could work. However, I think it would sacrifice too many lives." Ma Liang looked curious, and inquired what was the plan.  
  
"First, we will send our vanguard in to meet them. They will cause a ruckus, and set fires everywhere they step, but making a path for them to retreat. This will attract the enemy, for they feed on fire. If they are undisciplined enough, they will break for the fire. However, if that fails, they will instead crush our vanguard. I decided that we must also charge their ranks and scatter them. So Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are to lead their men with pails of water and throw it upon the enemy when they charge. I believe that it will scatter the fire-orcs, as Hatch said. This done, they will lead their men into a charge and disorganize the flanks of the enemy. Our opponents will send men to reinforce the flanks, weakening the center. As all this is being done, our main army will arrive and reinforce the vanguard, which probably would've been crushed already. The rear will bring up food, and if we drive them off we will set camp and set ambushes around the entrance of the camp if they are to perform a night-raid. If this all could succeed, we can defeat them, and Cao Cao and Sun Quan can help us."  
  
Ma Liang was awed, and spoke, "Well then Lord Zhuge Liang, why are you so worried about lives being risked? The only real threat is our vanguard, and in war, we always need to make risks." "Have you not forgotten the enemy has more than two million soldiers? With my strategy, we have a chance of routing them, but for that we will lose almost all of our soldiers, even if they're in confusion." Ma Liang fell silent, and then said, "Well, they won't send all of their soldiers will they? Maybe around a quarter or so." "That is still 500,000 my friend, we will still be outnumbered five to one." Ma Liang, convinced by Zhuge Liang's words, decided to offer some advice. "Why not instead of sending your van to get crushed, have them lure the enemy's front lines into the hills near Hanzhong. There, you can have archers shoot arrows down at them and have men throw water down at them." "I have already thought of it. But who can we spare?" "We can have around twenty thousand archers and ten thousand soldiers from Chengdu surprise them." Kongming smiled, "Exactly my thinking."  
  
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Later on that evening, the Shu officers were feasting themselves before the day they began marching. Liu Bei looked at his officers, who were looking glum at the fact that they were outnumbered badly. Smiling, Xuande reassured them, "Do not look worried my friends! What are these demons to us? We are man, and we have heaven's mandate to defeat these hellish creatures. I have Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as my brothers; Zhao Zilong, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, and Ma Dai as my generals, Ma Su, Zhuge Liang, and Ma Liang as my advisers; what have we to fear from these armies?" The officers, though they showed relief, still were gloomy inside. They weren't scared of course, but yet they each felt something troubling was going to happen to their lord and all his land. However, they kept these thoughts in their mind and continued feasting until finally it was late at night. The generals left, leaving the advisers behind to Liu Bei for their plan.  
  
"So my advisers, have you come up with a plan to outwit the demons?" inquired Liu Bei. "Well yes, but I'm a little afraid the plan might be a little risky." As the night wore on, Liu Bei listened to Zhuge Liang's and Ma Liang's plan (for they had come up with it together) with a few comments from Ma Su in between. As each risky part was mentioned, Liu Bei's face would become wearier. Finally, Kongming ended with one last word. "My lord, are you ready to adopt this plan and take the risks?" Bei sighed, and replied, "Though an ingenious plan, it puts too many of the army in risks, and many will die, and I won't be able to stand it." "Remember my lord, Wei and Wu will come to reinforce us," said Ma Su. "Still, I can't bear it. This burden sometimes can be very heavy, in bearing the lives of many men from so many families that would be hopeless without them." The three advisors, Zhuge Liang, Ma Liang, and Ma Su, sighed at his good will. "However, I will accept this plan if this is the only thing we have," said Liu Bei quietly. Satisfied, the meeting was adjourned.  
  
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It was dawn, thus marking the beginning of the great march. The generals organized their men into orderly fashion, and marched them to their positions in the formation. Tents were downed, fires quenched, equipment packed, weapons sharpened, banners raised, horses mounted; it was a great sight (not in a good way that is) as all the preparations for marching were underway. Finally, the great army of the Riverlands was organized, and all was quiet except for the occasional clanging of armor. Liu Bei rode his horse to the front of the whole army, and shouted, "Today men, we go to war! We do not march for my own purposes of ambition this very day, no we don't! Instead, we are marching for ourselves, to save the lives of our families, our relatives, our friends, our villages, from destruction of an army that's not even human! Come on men, and let us fall upon our foes like lightning. Do not be afraid of our enemy, for if you do, we will lose, and losing means we will die! Hold them off as best you can, for Wei and Wu will come and help us. FOR VICTORY!" At the last two words, Bei thrust up his magnificent sword into the air for all to see. A deafening roar came from the army as they replied in unison, "FOR VICTORY!" "Then let us go, and teach them who are the bosses of our land!"  
  
The army shouted, yelled, and whooped as they were roused up. Drums began rolling as they signaled the beginning of the march. In high spirits, the soldiers thumped their boots together perfectly on the ground as they began moving slowly ahead. The clop clop's of horseshoes hitting the ground were heard as the cavalry galloped ahead of the foot soldiers, and then doubling back as they patrolled the flanks of the army.  
  
Meanwhile, Liu Bei rode side by side with his advisors as they rode in the center of the whole army. Xuande looked at each one of his advisors, and smiled at them. "What do you think we should do if we come back to the Riverlands," he asked them, "Should we declare everlasting peace and retire to a happy reign and life, or shall we continue our dreams for subduing China into a land for the Han?" At these words, Ma Liang replied quickly, "Is our lord actually thinking of living a normal life? And not still aiming for a righteous course to making the Han true again?" Embarrassed, Xuande said, "I spoke in jest. I was just testing you as my advisors. Yes, I shall pursue that goal of reuniting China under the Han again. However, I believe our men will need a rest after this."  
  
And so, the armies of Shu marched towards battle, maybe even a hopeless battle if the plan doesn't work. Wei and Wu were also preparing their battle plans. Cao Cao had prepared a contingent of five hundred thousand to fall on the rear from the north, with Liu Ye and Xun Wenruo as his strategists and advisors. He would have Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Yu Jin, Wen Ping, Pang De, and Xiahou Yuan lead his army as generals. Sun Quan mustered a force of a hundred thousand to reinforce Liu Bei. His advisors were Lu Meng and Lu Xun. His generals included Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Han Dang, Dong Xi, Jiang Qin, and Ling Tong.  
  
Would Liu Bei succeed in holding off the demonic army? Will Cao Cao and Sun Quan be able to reinforce him? To be continued. 


End file.
